We've covered the problems with pennies before. In exciting news for the anti-penny lobby, the good people of Canada formally decided to abolish the penny by stopping production, joining a growing list of countries doing away with this ultra-low-denomination coin. Existing pennies will still be accepted for purchases but the supply of pennies in the economy will slowly decline, as the Royal Canadian Mint will take pennies in and melt them down. This is generally considered a good cost-saving measure, not least because minting a penny in Canada currently costs something like 1.6 cents.

In this video, the internet's favorite explainer C.G.P. Grey walks us through how it works:

And in case you haven't seen them, here are two relevant videos from penny debates past, including one by former Mental Floss blogger John Green -- who also hates nickels: